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Housing association tenants to get ‘shared ownership’ Right to Buy, Jenrick reveals
Housing association tenants will be given a right to buy 10% of their homes under new proposals announced by the housing secretary today.
Robert Jenrick has set out plans to give housing association tenants the right to purchase a share in the equity of their property – starting at 10% and rising in 1% chunks.
The new right will be automatic for newly built homes, Mr Jenrick said, with a “voluntary” arrangement between associations and the government for existing tenants.
This echoes the ‘voluntary deal’ for the full Right to Buy extension struck between housing associations and the government in 2015.
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A press statement issued by the Conservative Party today said: “We want to work with housing associations on a voluntary basis to determine what offer can be made to those in existing housing association properties.
“For those tenants in new stock, there will be an automatic right to buy a share of their home from as little as 10%, with the ability to increase that share over time, up to full ownership.”
Last month the government promised an overhaul of shared ownership – allowing buyers to purchase a property with just 10% of the equity.
But this is a major further step – offering what is effectively a partial ‘Right to Buy’ to 2.6 million households.
Mr Jenrick said: “I want to ensure that residents living in new housing association homes are given the opportunity of climbing onto the property ladder by giving them the right to shared ownership of their homes.
“This means that tenants in new stock will have an automatic right to buy a share of their home, as little as 10%, and increase that share over time. I also look forward to working with housing associations on a voluntary basis to open this opportunity to those living in existing properties.
“As Conservatives, we know that owning a home is not just about the four walls around you, it’s about investing in your family, saving for the future and putting down roots in a community. We are on the side of hard-working people who want the sense of security that comes with homeownership.”
It is not yet clear how the policy will be enforced for new homes, although it is possible the government is considering making it a condition of grant funding.
Neither has the party revealed how it plans to establish a voluntary agreement with the sector for existing stock.
In 2015, this was struck with the National Housing Federation following a sector-wide ballot about whether or not to support the move. It was proposed that the regulator would oversee housing associations’ compliance with the deal.
The full extension of the Right to Buy – proposed by David Cameron in the 2015 manifesto – would involve housing association tenants benefiting from the discounts available to council tenants when purchasing their homes.
Housing associations would then have been compensated for the reduced value of the sale through public money, to have been raised by the sale vacant council houses.
These plans have hit the buffers – with a West Midlands pilot ongoing but no implementation date and no funding mechanism identified with the sale of council homes ruled out last year.
The government made no reference to the wider Right to Buy extension in its announcement this morning, but it is possible this new scheme would serve as a replacement.
Inside Housing reported in August that Boris Johnson’s new government was considering switching housing policy to focus on homeownership following a more multi-tenured approach under Theresa May.
